BS: The first santa

Subject: BS: The first santa
From: Morticia
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 01:49 PM

A bit like the first cuckoo of spring, I have seen the first of houses tricked out in light-up santas,fake icicles,lollipops etc.etc. Should I write to the Times or have others seen houses done up before today?

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: MMario
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 01:52 PM

try a over month ago. the commercial $-mas thing started before Halloween. so did some people with their decorations.

bah! humbug!

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 01:53 PM

The house opposite us has had flashing fairy lights up in their windows since the 1st December!!!

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: CapriUni
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 12:28 AM

I saw the first non-commercial Christmas decoration up on Friday, the 29th of November (driving past a house, I saw a fully lit tree standing in the living room). I know that here in the States, the day after Thanksgiving is the official start of the Christmas Season... but that is just ridiculous, if you ask me!

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 02:43 AM

Sorry Cats, my office decorations have been up since 14th Nov (but not over MY desk!), there's a house in Lonsdale Avenue that had it's lights up and the tree in the window since 21st Nov, and my dining room has had a few up since 21st Dec last year (they got missed on 12th Night, and sort of blended in so I didn't bother....)! The earliest I've seen the lights was at Thurrock Shopping Centre in October. Municipal/Shop Christmas trees include the Walthamstow 'mall'(1st Dec), Peacocks stores (around 25th Nov), and Thurrock Regional Shopping Centre (can't remember exactly but it was before Hallowe'en, because one Christmas tree was decorated with pumpkins.....)

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 04:55 AM

Well, today is St. Nicholas' Eve, so Santa Clauses are allowed! (I've spent ages cunningly wrapping the Dutchman's Sinterklaas present in layers and layers of paper and tape).
The Christmas lights are up in Bristol, certainly round the Centre anyway, although I wasn't aware that anyone such as a minor C-list ex-pop-star celeb, or a children's TV puppet,or someone from a Reality TV show had switched them on yet, but still they glow.
I saw a flat just off the Gloucester Road with a window full of lights, and another with those flashy lights depicting a train with animated puffs of smoke. No idea what the Chritsmas relevance of a train is, or why it should be displayed in someone's window, unless it's to draw attention to the awful railway system in this country.

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: Snuffy
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 09:03 AM

The George Hotel at Lower Brailes, Warwickshire still does it the traditional way: doesn't put them up till Christmas Eve, and takes them down on 12th Night.

Others, please copy

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:08 AM

There's a family in town here who decorate their house and lawn to the hilt every year – we're talking wooden and plastic figurines all over the lawn, lights strung on some very tall trees and between trees and house, little sheds with glass fronts and mechanical figures moving inside, and music playing over loudspeakers (in fact, they have a little wooden box by the sidewalk for donations from appreciative passersby). Last year they built a huge Christmas-light replica of the Twin Towers and put it on their roof.

It's such an elaborate set-up that some of the decorations stay on the lawn all year: those little sheds, the light strings, and a giant snowman two stories tall. That permanent snowman is quite a sight to see during an August heat wave!

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: Mudlark
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 03:42 AM

St. Nicholas eve...I was surprised to find that St. Nick's legend grew out of his benevolence toward a pennilss man who, unable to afford dowries for his 3 daughters, felt compelled to sell them into prostitution. Nicholas was said to have tossed a pouch of gold pieces through the father's window on 3 consecuive nights, allowing the dauhters to find suitable husbands.

These bags were later transmuted into 3 gold (or sometimes blue) balls that were adopted as a symbol by pawnbrokers. St. Nick was a 4th c. patron saint of pawnbrokers who later became known as Santa Claus.

As to decorations, they are spreading like wildfire here, lights replicating at an ever furiouser pace. And then there are the folks who leave their dangly "icicle" lights up...and on...all year.

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 06:15 AM

I long ago stopped minding people lighting up their houses in late November- they aren't trying to sell me something, they're just trying to drive the dark away. It's a pretty primal response! My candles will probably go into the window this weekend!

My large, hulking teenagers still enjoy the chocolate, fruit and nuts that appear in their shoes on St. Nicholas day. They don't put their shoes out or anything lame like that, you understand- but they do love the goodies that magically appear wherever they threw their shoes! The fruit tends to be the kind they would never normally get- star fruit, pomegranates, papaya- whatever is available on the 5th!

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 08:54 AM

To light up houses in pre-Xmas time was not usual in Germany until this usage was brought into towns with US garrisons.
Now you see a lot of genuine German houses decorated with light chains, Santa Clauses in the windows &c.
It is still considered indecent to start the decorations before Eternity Sunday (or Deads' Sunday), the last Sunday of the Church Year.
Here in my native town the lights were lit last Sunday, the 1st Advent Sunday.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: SharonA
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:47 AM

Wilfried: Pardon my ignorance, but when does the Church Year end? When is/was Eternity Sunday this calendar year?

Subject: RE: BS: The first santa
From: MMario
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:57 AM

It would be the Sunday BEFORE 1st Sunday of Advent - as the Church year begins on 1 Advent.

So this year it was 11/24